List of Pittsburgh Penguins head coaches
The Pittsburgh Penguins are an American professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Hockey League (NHL). The franchise was established as one of six new franchises of the 1967 NHL expansion. Since their foundation, the Penguins have played their home games at the Mellon Arena, which is scheduled to be replaced by the Consol Energy Center in 2010. The franchise is co-owned by Ronald Burkle and Mario Lemieux—the only player/owner in the NHL's modern era. According to Forbes, the Penguins were the 18th most valuable NHL franchise, at $195 million, in 2008. There have been 20 head coaches for the Penguins franchise. The franchise's first head coach was Red Sullivan, former New York Rangers captain and coach. Sullivan was replaced by future Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Red Kelly, after two seasons. Kelly was inducted into the Hall of Fame as a player, and head coaches Craig Patrick, Bob Johnson, Scotty Bowman, and Herb Brooks were inducted as builders. Eddie Johnston—who along with Patrick and Ken Schinkel served two tenures as head coach—leads Penguins' coaches in games coached (516), wins (232), losses (224), and ties (60). Bowman leads coaches in winning percentage (.628) and playoff victories (33). Johnson led the Penguins to their first Stanley Cup victory in 1991, but was forced to retire due to health problems after the season—he died later that year. Bowman succeeded Johnson and coached the team to its second Stanley Cup victory the following season. Michel Therrien won the Prince of Wales Trophy, as Eastern Conference champion, during the 2007–08 season. Therrien was replaced the following season by current head coach Dan Bylsma. Blysma would lead the Penguins to their third Stanley Cup championship that same season. Key Coaches Note: Statistics are updated through the 2008–09 season. Footnotes * Before the 2005–06 season, the NHL instituted a shootout for regular season games that remained tied after a five-minute overtime period, which prevented ties. * Head coaches with multiple terms are counted once; figures are career totals. For a specific order of the coaches see the Footnotes section. * Each year is linked to an article about that particular NHL season. * Gene Ubriaco served as the Penguins' head coach to begin the 1989–90 season; the team began with a 10–14–2 record. On December 5, 1989, Craig Patrick replaced Ubriaco as an interim head coach. Under Patrick, the team went 22–26–6 and did not qualify for the playoffs. * After starting the 1996–97 season with a record of 31–26–5, the Penguins went 1–8 in nine consecutive games in February and March 1997. Coach Eddie Johnston was replaced by Craig Patrick, under whom the team finished the season 7–10–3 and lost in the first round of the playoffs four games to one. * Michel Therrien coached the Penguins to a 27–25–5 record to start the 2008–09 season, at which point he was replaced by Dan Bylsma. * Dan Blysma's statistics will be updated upon the completion of the 2008–09 season. References ;General * * ;Notes * Pittsburgh Penguins head coaches